


I Scream, You Scream

by dreamiflame



Category: The Sandman (Comics)
Genre: Family Bonding, Gen, Ice Cream, Post-The Wake, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-10 08:29:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11123520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamiflame/pseuds/dreamiflame
Summary: After the new Dream meets his family for the first time, Death takes him for ice cream.





	I Scream, You Scream

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Miss_M](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_M/gifts).



> Thanks to my beta for helping make this better.

After what felt like ages of awkward silence in Dream’s dining room, Destiny turned a page in his book, and rose to his feet.

“We have come to the time I leave you, Brother,” he said, and reached a hand toward Dream. To Death’s surprise, Dream stretched out his arm in response, and they touched, briefly.

The former Dream was not so inclined to affectionate gestures. In his cowl, Destiny smiled at the bright new Dream, then turned and walked to his portrait.

A heartbeat later, Destiny was gone.

“Well!” Desire said, bright and brittle, but perhaps not quite as brittle as before. “I can’t say it’s been fun. But it has been something.” Desire blew a kiss at Dream, and swung itself into its frame.

“Don’t be a stranger,” it said over its shoulder, and its laughter lingered after Desire had vanished back to its realm.

Despair ran her sigil ring down her face, but didn’t dig in.

“I know what it’s like,” she said, and reached her pudgy hand to Dream. Dream took it between both of his, and bent so Despair could speak softly to him. Death sipped her wine and watched her brother and her sister, both of them not the same as they had been in the beginning, and both of them in some ways just the same.

Dream pressed his lips lightly to Despair’s forehead. “I thank you, my sister,” he said, and Despair gave him a small, tremulous smile. He walked with her to her portrait, and bowed as she vanished.

Delirium bounced to her feet, red hair in a buzz cut this moment. “Oh, it’s my turn, right?”

“Right,” said Barnabas. “Time for us to go.”

Dream straightened just in time for Delirium to hit him at waist height. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face to his chest, curls cascading down to her shoulders.

“I was all scared of you before, and then I was sad of you, but now I think I’m glad of you, too,” she said, somewhat muffled. Dream placed awkward hands on her back and patted lightly, like he was afraid of hurting her, his long fingers very white against her newly rainbow hair.

Death nodded to herself. Maybe this time Dream would be kinder, both to himself and to others.

“I never meant to make you scared or sad of me,” Dream said.

Delirium tipped her face up to smile at him. “I know. But you did, and I was, but I think I’m not anymore. I have to go with my doggie now.” She squeezed Dream again around the waist and spun away, waist length pin straight hair swirling in an arc. “Bye Dream! Bye Death!”

She waggled her fingers at them, took Barnabas by the collar, and vanished.

The raven on the back of Dream’s chair let out a caw of laughter. “That one is a trip,” he said. “Do you need me anymore, boss?”

“No, thank you, Matthew,” Dream said. “You may go, if you like.”

Matthew flapped his wings, mantling. “I think I’ll go talk to Lucien,” he said, and bobbed his head to Death. “Good to see you again, Lady,” and then he flew off.

Dream toyed with the emerald around his neck. Death put her goblet down and stood, stretching.

“I think it went okay,” she said.

The look Dream gave her was pure relief. “Are you sure? There were so many silences.”

Death shrugged. “Yeah, well, we don’t always talk much, because we fight when we do. Family is complicated.“ She thought of Destruction, gone all these years from his realm, and hoped he’d come to see the new Dream at some point.

“So I recall,” Dream said. “I thank you, my sister, for staying, and for reassuring me.”

“Oh, I’m going to do more than that,” Death said. “Get your wallet, we’re going for ice cream.”

*

After assuring Dream she was joking, and he didn’t need to either fetch a wallet (which he undoubtedly had) or make a wallet (not hard at all for any of them), Death looked him over. “This is a suggestion, not an order,” she said, and Dream nodded to show he understood. “You might want to change.”

Dream looked down at his formal robes, then over at her casual black jeans and tee shirt. “I understand,” he said, and was abruptly wearing a plain white tee shirt and light gray jeans with flames embroidered near the hem. “Like this?”

“Perfect,” Death said, and took his arm. “Shall we?”

They ended up in Denver, taking their cones, vanilla bean for him, and brown butter sage for her, outside to eat. Death tilted her face up to the sun and took a bite.

“Mmm,” she said. “Sure you don’t want to try?”

“Delirium would like that place,” Dream replied instead of answering the question, and took a careful, precise lick of his ice cream.

Death laughed. “At least their flavors are edible,” she said. “Delirium likes to make green telephone and mouse ice cream. Or tiger flavor.”

Dream raised his brows. “Those don’t sound appealing.”

“No, and no one wanted to eat them,” Death said. “But it makes her happy.”

They ate in silence for a few moments.

“Why ice cream?” Dream finally asked. Death had been hearing the gears grind in his head for a while, and she was surprised he had held out so long.

“I like ice cream,” Death replied. “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!”

A pair of little girls passing by laughed and starting chanting “Ice cream! Ice cream!” at their long suffering mother, who threw Death a dirty look before hustling the girls away. Death took a bite of her ice cream. Delicious.

“But neither of us are screaming,” Dream said, and Death smiled.

She could feel the tug of her duty, of souls crying to be taken, and part of her was there for them, each and every one accepted into the sound of her wings. At the same time, she stood here, with her new younger brother, whom she had known since near the beginning of time.

“We could scream,” she said, “but I know that’s not really how you do things.”

“I am still learning again how I do things,” Dream said, and frowned at his cone. “I have ice cream on my fingers.”

Death offered him a napkin. “You need to eat it faster,” she said. Dream cleaned his fingers off fastidiously, and licked faster at his melting vanilla double scoop.

“It’s not really about the ice cream,” she told him, in between licks of her own. “It’s about the journey. You know. Bonding.”

Dream looked at her with those endless starry eyes. “You were my favorite sibling, before,” he said.

“I was, after Desire helped break your heart the first time,” Death agreed. She kept her tone light.

He frowned at the ice cream. “Yes. You have never played any such trick on me.”

“I never needed to,” Death said. More silence, as they ate and thought.

“Dream?” Death said, finally.

“Yes, my sister?”

“You called to me for help, at the end. I yelled at you once for not doing it before.” Death reached out and touched this new Dream’s soft white fingers. “That still goes for you. If you need me, call. I’ll help if I can.”

Dream smiled at her, turning his wrist so their fingers tangled together. “I promise,” he said, and licked ice cream from the fingers of his free hand.

**Author's Note:**

> The shop in Denver is Sweet Action Ice Cream, which has some neat flavors listed on their website, and is on a couple of lists of the best ice cream in the country.


End file.
